 Hello, this is Roger Burley for CTN Member Highlights and the non-profit member organization is Oceanside Conservation Trust of Casco Bay and we are holding our annual meeting here in July on Clefion on a property we call a meadow, which is going through the process of receiving a conservation easement so it is protected and will be even more protected. And now I would like to have a few words from Chris McDuffie, Chris is the Vice President of Oceanside Conservation Trust of Casco Bay and a very long time board member. And so Chris, what are your expectations and thoughts about being here in the meadow today? It's always a great pleasure to be on Clefion because it is a magnificent island. I see it every day from our cottage on Long Island and it's my most wonderful view. But I'm particularly proud of this organization and the good work it does to protect properties for our future generations. That's what I care about and what wonderful properties we have protected all around the Bay and this new property I'm particularly excited about. It will be preserved forever when the conservation easement goes into effect and our children and grandchildren and generations beyond that will have access to this property. And you will see I'm sure what a beautiful property it is right on the shoreline with a beach and vistas that go all the way to Harpswell. So Chris, coming with this property is an exceptional item, 1100 feet of beach. There's hardly any beach in Maine and we've got over a thousand feet of it right here. So that's a great attraction for the community here both on Clefion and from off island. So tell us a little bit about conservation easements and how these people can feel comfortable coming to this beach. The conservation easement will protect this land from development in the future. There will be no high rise condominiums on this property to be seen from land or sea so that and that really is a permanent protection. So this will be the way it is now for the foreseeable future endlessly and isn't that a powerful thing to do. And the public is guaranteed the right to visit if they mind their manners, right? And don't abuse the property and its respectful use is welcome and these opportunities for using this kind of property are being progressively closed off from the public and for future generations and this will never be. So aren't we fortunate? There will be no trespassing sign on this property and on this beach. That's right. The public will be welcome. Thank you very much Chris. And now I have the pleasure of standing with Ted Reiner whose family has owned this property, the Meadow here on Cliff Island for a very, very long time. And Ted, tell us your feelings about coming here today and talking about this land which has been I think very close to your heart for your whole life. So talk about it a little bit. Yes, that's very true. Well, Roger, this is to me a red letter day and I'm very happy to be here. It's kind of a dedication of the property to a new purpose. Over the years I've been the steward for this property and now the whole island can be a steward for this property. I've always thought it's important that it be preserved and so easily properties become developed and then the views change, the land becomes private and the history of this property is that it's been used for generations for the swimming beach and picnics. And I'm very happy that today this will be preserved as a natural area. The animals, the birds will be the same in generations to come and people will enjoy it. The whole island will get to enjoy it. So to me this is an important day and I feel honored to be here. It will be a rededication to preserve and protect this island forever. Well, one of the things, thank you for that Ted, one of the things about a property under consummation easement is that you can still use it as if it were your own and along with everyone else in the community. But there'll never be a no trespassing sign here and nothing will ever prevent you from using it as if it were still your own. And if I know you, you'll still be out here mowing the lawn from time to time. You do not have to anymore. You absolutely don't have to, but since you have kind of a vested historical interest, I think it's very special that you can take pleasure in the fact that nothing else is going to happen here other than what you have decided you want. Well what I've been swimming here since I was a little kid with my family, cold water doesn't bother me and just most recently I like to launch my kayak here and I envision other people launching their kayaks here and kids who will be fearless in the cold Atlantic. You know, I had blue lips, I was shivering and I just saw it as fun. Well, it is fun and again, anyone who wants to store their kayak for a few hours or a few days on this property will be able to do so within reason and because it's just open to the community and we like that. So Ted, we look forward to hearing your keynote talk today. I'm ready for that and again, I feel it's a special day and I'm very honored to be here. Thank you, Roger. Thank you, Ted. Nice to see you all today. It's a red letter day for me and the island too. Very happy to be here. It's nice to see a lot of familiar faces and some new faces too. I'll start by saying a few things about the property and myself and then I will move on to my more formal remarks. After college I became a lobster man here but my family had come here for a long time since my grandmother started coming here. This property has never been developed but I believe it was under the plow at one time. It was a meadow, there's probably some gardening here, probably animals grazed here. We know that the pet and gill farm had the animals and their boundaries came over and included this. And we had the Anderson dairy farm over here where as kids we found milk cans still. So besides fishing there was an agricultural basis to life on the island at one time. In the bushes over here in the Golden Rod are two boats that were mine. They're rotting hulls and it's kind of amazing that they have come and gone and I'm still standing here and they're doing pretty good. The white boat was over here was my first boat and it was built by Ward Bickford who was a cliff islander. It was built in Pine Point near Old Orchard in 1952. I was born in 1950. I was the last owner of that boat but it was Ward Bickford's last boat I believe was built in Pine Point and it was Wardy Cushing's retirement boat. Cushing lived in Eric Anderson's house with Molly and Wardy's a lot of lobstermen who have gone hard. At the end they just pull a few traps and this is his 18 foot boat, it's carvel planked and one of the interesting things about its construction is it's like Bubbie Anderson's boat. Bubbie being tall asked to have his boat built a plank higher than the most lobster boats. The sheer line was higher and Wardy not wanting to bend over as an 80 year old lobsterman asked Ward Bickford to, while it was already mostly built, to put it up another plank and I don't think the builder was really happy to do that. He had to scarf in a new stem and the boat ended up looking more like a bathtub than he probably wanted to but the main thing was you didn't have to bend over as much it had more free board. So there's two old boats over there and I've asked Roger and Leslie if they wanted them to go into the bonfire or be landmarks forever and I think that's up in the air at this point. But just leave it as it is for now. My mother started coming here with her mother in 1936. My mother was 15 years old so that was the beginning of an interest in coming here. My parents bought their first cottage here in 1946 after the war. They owned a cottage before they owned a house. They bought it for back taxes at about the same time they acquired the meadow from Ben Hall who owned the Pettengill farmhouse. What else? In 1959 my grandparents decided to buy a place. It was the Baybury Cottage over here as my grandparents were Ben and Meena Hartman. This house, that house was originally Miles and Inez, O'Reilly's, their honeymoon house. They quickly outgrew it because they had 13 children so there's a lot of history here and I'm not going to go much further than that. But I think that most people who have been here long term know that this is a special place to be preserved and that this is a red-letter day so I'll just switch from speaking off the cuff to what I have prepared to say today and I'm thinking of this as a rededication of the meadow to a greater community purpose. I feel honored to be standing with a group of people. I'd better grab my reading glasses here. I just feel very honored to be standing here with a group of people who have taken a stand to protect the islands and natural places they love. You have strong values and you have chosen to act on your love and reverence. There's a Buddhist teaching in protecting others we protect ourselves. We are only slowly coming to this understanding. We have a lot to be grateful for here on Cliff Island. Our sustainable community project at Fisherman's Wharf is well underway. The baseball field and Blackledge Marsh have been preserved. The Belknaps Bluff is everyone's link with the wild Atlantic. Much of the north and south points of the island have been preserved. The Griffin Homestead is now Parkland protecting the island's best swimming place. And today we stand on the meadow and beach that is passing from the private ownership of Ned and Carol Reiner and now to be protected by the stewardship of Oceanside Trust. This is truly a red letter day. Those who already love and use this land will begin to see it as theirs to protect, cherish and enjoy. The war on nature, the drumbeat of modern consumer society that eats up the land and its resources will have to take a detour here. Our success in all our conservation efforts is the result of strong community support, unflagging leadership and an admirable number of visionary thinkers. We cannot stop change, but we can learn to skillfully shape it. I think most of you gathered here will agree that every island in Casco Bay is a gem. So why do we feel this way? Is it in the drinking water? Or has something happened to us that has tuned us into loving this place? Our sensibilities have been fine tuned to love everything about this island. The sights, sounds and smells, the people, the boats, the rocks, the seagulls, the changing weather and colors of the day. We have a depth of feeling and intimacy that the casual visitor wouldn't understand. When you come to know a place, your experience and memories are multi-layered. You actually see differently than the casual observer. It's like seeing your mother's face. Many moments of recognition and appreciation are there within you. What this means is, if you draw away the veil, this meadow and beach are a paradise, if we can but see it that way. I'm thinking of two lobstermen that are departed, Carlton, Cushing and Bud Vortish, refer to it as the Promised Land, which is right out there, over there is where they found the July Shedders. But they weren't just referring to a potential lobster bonanza. It was dear to them. They saw it in a light that painters have struggled to put on canvas for generations. This land's value is not in dollars, but what it means to us to have it preserved forever. When we come here, we can drop life's struggles and worries. Our need to become something other than what we are can be suspended. Instead of becoming, we can settle into being, just being. This is the peace that many people seek through religion. The people who regularly walk here have found the beauty that's here in every moment, but especially so at sunrise and sunset. They have learned to walk in beauty. Something that Native Americans still try to teach their children. They teach what we have forgotten, that we are connected to all others and that we belong here. This place does not so much belong to us as we belong to it. When first you step into a meadow or woods, the animals and birds go silent. Then after you settle in and get peaceful inside, life resumes and the birds and creatures present themselves. They trust you as an honorable emissary who can take a message back to your tribe. They hope you will tell the other humans to live and let live, to come in peace and to feel the peace. They know that humans can be dangerous and destructive, but they see you have come to join the stillness. In this very spot, right over here, I have seen deer browsing with turkeys at their feet. There is no fear, they are comfortable with each other. In fact, the turkeys may be eating the ticks that bother the deer. Our challenge is to join with the symbiosis. As we simplify our lives, we can become more responsive and generous human beings. Our values become clear. What we hope to pass on to our children is character and knowing how to be happy. We hope that they will enjoy Cliff Island as we have. We know we will not be around forever, but living bright within our children and grandchildren will be our legacy. This land is now to be held in trust forever. We can pass on the torch as a gift and blessing to the young ones. We want our children to have this legacy even as life on this planet seems to be getting harder every day. Armed with courage and a moral compass, we stand with big hearts, hoping and praying that the beauty of this world with its natural landscapes, its birds, trees and animals will go on much as it is today for many generations. Every sunrise and moonrise will bring nature's renewal. We can stand in that light. Each new Cliff Islander will be given the opportunity to walk in beauty. I have just one more thing to share with you. It's a poem by Wendell Berry that echoes all of my words in just ten lines. It's called The Presence of Wild Things. When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood-drake rests in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water and I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world and am free. That includes what I have to share with you. Is there some way that that will be reproduced for those of you? Oh, yes. Absolutely. Woo! Time to back to follow. Alright, a little more information. Sorry about that. I'd like to welcome Representative Janice Cooper, who represents Shabee in Long Island. You don't look like you've got a lot of scars on you. We've been defending the LMF program and not succeeding very well. We're not done yet. Okay. Keep working on it. We need LMF money, and all you main residents contact your representative, your senator, and if you dare, your governor. It's not a pretty picture, but we need the land-formance future money to continue work such as this. LMF funds are not required for the preservation of this property, but they are required millions and millions of dollars worth to protect other properties around the state, which have been submitted for conservation easements and purchases. Do you want to say anything about that, or do you? Please. Oh, sure. We'll give up a chance. So Janice Cooper. Well, as you probably all know, we had a bill before us in the very last day of the session that would have limited the government discretion about when to release bonds and to purely financial issues rather than political gamesmanship. And we had the two-thirds vote. We needed the first time we voted, and virtually all the Republicans who supported it, the first time flipped their votes, and we lost. So that's the bad news. The good news is that the bonds that were issued in 2010, that's the ones we're talking about, have now effectively expired, but under the Constitution we can renew them for another five years, which we will do come the second session. So we'll have five years to get them issued. So maybe we'll have a new governor. Eventually we will. Within that five years we certainly will, and maybe who knows. And all I can say is LNF is one of the most popular programs in the state, and it's just mind-boggling to me that we're in this fix. So I think eventually history is on our side, and we will get it. And we have supported people across the state, and it will happen. The program was initiated in 1987, and I forget the numbers. I was on the LNF board for four and a half years, when times were better. And we had no trouble spending money and preserving properties. So it'll happen again. But $120 million, roughly, I think something like that, has been spent to preserve property in Maine, and thousands of acres. Some are huge properties, way up north, and some are very small, and everything in between. So it's an incredibly important program. What is Maine? If it's not, it's an environment, and it's people who care about the environment in Maine. This is us.